Distressing visuals and news articles from New Delhi and Gujarat that have been shaking our conscience for a week have become a reality in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu as well. Hospitals in the capital city are running at full capacity. Videos posted by residents on social media showed a long queue of ambulances with Covid patients waiting outside Chennai's tertiary government Covid hospitals on Tuesday for admission.
Many people said they had to wait for one or two hours to get admission even as their oxygen saturation level was dipping below 80 per cent.
"My husband had an oxygen saturation of 78. It took at least one hour to get into triage at the Omandurar GH," said the wife of a 48-year-old patient at the hospital. It is learnt that beds are almost full at the Stanley GH, Omandurar, Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, and King's Covid Hospital at Guindy. The status of beds at the city's fifth tertiary government healthcare provider, Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, could not be confirmed.
At one point on Tuesday at least 15 ambulances were lined up at Stanley waiting for patients to be admitted. Most patients were in need of oxygen support. Doctors, on condition of anonymity, said beds were filled and there was a severe manpower shortage.
"They have to double the number of doctors. NEET PG exams, which are postponed, must be held, so that PG doctors can immediately join duty and assist us," said a doctor.
Even at Omandurar, ambulances were lined up and people were waiting to gain entry. At RGGGH, patients were also waiting in their own vehicles for admission alongside the line of ambulances. "It took at least one and a half hours to get admission. The beds are full," said a patient, in his 50s, waiting at RGGGH.
However, government officials are also working on a war footing to increase the number of beds. A health official said Chennai will have up to 3,000 more oxygen beds soon and work to augment oxygen supply is ongoing.
"People need not panic or come to hospitals if their oxygen saturation is above 94. They must make use of the screening centres set up by Chennai Corporation," the official said.
The case is no different in Coimbatore, which is witnessing over 1,500 cases every day. Patients who test positive and have difficulty breathing are running pillar to post to get oxygen-supported beds. As per details put out by the district administration on Monday evening, as many as 340 of the 350 beds with oxygen support were full at the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH). At the ESI Medical College Hospital, all 286 oxygen beds were occupied. Following the surge in cases, the health department is asking patients arriving at ESI to go under home isolation in case they are affected with less than 20 per cent lung infection.
Despite the availability of 454 O2 beds out of the 2,361 in the 52 private hospitals in Coimbatore, it is not affordable to the economically-backward and marginalised people as these hospitals are reportedly seeking fees to the tune of lakhs of rupees even before admission.
A 29-year-old patient from Podanur, who tested positive for Covid last Saturday, said, "After waiting for six hours at the ESI Hospital, I got my CT scan report. Private centres are demanding Rs 3,500 for the same scan. It shows that my lungs have up to 12 per cent infection. I was asked to be under home isolation."
A 108 ambulance driver, on condition of anonymity, said, "I get called to take up to 35 patients to ESI Hospital. On an average, 10 cases come with breathing issues. On hearing there are no beds, they use private ambulances or vehicles to reach private hospitals for treatment." Patients with breathing troubles and who do not have either a Covid-19 positive report or CT-scan are not given admission to beds with oxygen facilities in government centres.
A senior official in ESI Hospital said, "About 380 beds without oxygen support were occupied in our hospital. On normal days, the hospital would need 1.5 tonnes of oxygen. On days like these, it has increased by 20 times. We do not have even a single unoccupied bed as on Tuesday."
However, contrary to the report by CMCH on Monday, Dean A Nirmala said they have 700 beds with oxygen facility as on Tuesday.
The situation is similarly dire at Tirunelveli where officials on Tuesday said almost all of the 1,240 beds allocated to Covid patients at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TvMCH) are occupied. Of the 1,240 beds, 900 have oxygen supply.
"The last 30 of the total beds allocated to Covid patients were made available on Tuesday. All the patients are in need of oxygen. We are doing our best to save them. We have only a limited number of beds to admit non-Covid patients. Since the beds for the Covid patients are full, we request the State to immediately focus on the infrastructure development in TvMCH. Unlike cities like Chennai and Madurai, we do not have enough government and private hospitals in Tirunelveli," an official said.
Without help, it would be tough for the hospital to accommodate more Covid patients in the coming days, he added.
Sources said that Covid patients, who are critical or have comorbidities, are being sent to the hospital from Tenkasi, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari. On Tuesday, 719 people tested positive for the virus in the district and one person died. Meanwhile, one Ravichandran, of Tirunelveli, claimed that his 59-year-old wife Chandrika died due to a lack of oxygen outside the TvMCH as the hospital administration failed to allot her a bed in time.
Meanwhile, at the Salem Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital (GMKMCH) all 800 beds earmarked for Covid patients were occupied on Tuesday. Sources said the hospital is not in a position to admit new patients.
The situation is so critical that Covid patients referred to the hospital by private hospitals have had to get treatment in ambulances for a want of beds to accommodate them.
The GMKMCH has a capacity of 650 beds to treat Covid patients, including 550 oxygen beds and 78 ventilator beds. The bed strength was increased to 800, by an addition of 150 oxygen beds. Sources said that the hospital admits only severely affected patients and others are being sent to Covid care centers.
The district administration is working to arrange another 350 oxygen beds in a week. However, complaints have emerged that private hospitals in the district are sending critical patients to the GMKMCH at the last minute, creating a difficult situation for the government facility. There are also allegations that one patient died outside the GMKMCH in an ambulance while waiting for a bed. The hospital's Dean R Murugaesan said that he was unaware of the issue but will inquire into it. “We cannot admit patients without discharging an equal number of patients. Steps are being taken to increase the number of beds. We have also clearly instructed private hospitals not to send patients here without checking on the availability of beds, " he added.
In the less developed Ariyalur, Covid patients seeking admission to the Government District Headquarters Hospital have complained that they are being forced to wait outside the Covid ward till patients are discharged, as the beds are full.
On Tuesday, the district reported 340 fresh Covid cases. According to a senior health official, the Ariyalur GH has 310 beds, of which 200 are for Covid patients. There is also a 150-bed facility at the Ariyalur government arts college.
However, doctors force new patients to sit outside the Covid ward for long hours till beds open up, Covid-19 patients claimed. They are admitted only after inpatients are discharged from the ward, they rued.
A 35-year-old woman from the district, who tested positive on Monday, said, "I was forced to sit outside the Covid ward for over five hours due to a lack of beds. Some new patients, including two children, were also sitting outside. We were allowed in after some patients were discharged."
She added that the new patients were not given any food or treatment until they were admitted inside. “If we asked about it, no one would respond properly. If they sent me home to isolate, I would have taken rest and avoided spreading the infection to others. But here I suffered a lot while sitting outside," she said.
Social activists, condemning the situation, have complained to the District Collector demanding action. T Elavarasan, an activist from Ariyalur said, "Every day new Covid patients are forced to sit outside the Covid ward. Some patients roam around the hospital or leave. This will enable the virus to spread.”
"Initially we treated new patients immediately upon admission. We now allow new patients only after inspecting the Covid ward every morning and discharging inpatients who are stable as the number of patients has increased. However, we have enough beds to admit new patients at the Ariyalur GH,” a health official in the district claimed.
(Omjasvin MD @Chennai, M Saravanan @Coimbatore, M Sabari @ Salem, Thinakaran Rajamani @ Tirunelveli, P Thiruselvam @ Ariyalur)